this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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Sideloaded apps aren't asking for benefits from being in Apple's app store. They're asking to be allowed to exist on Apple's platform without being fined for it.
Apple has used other platform API and tooling at no added cost the same way everyone everyone else does. iTunes and Safari used to run on Windows. Apple provides AppleTV+ apps for several platforms. And there's a number of apps they make for Android.
Apple already charges developers for access to their APIs and tooling. What Apple is doing with the per-install cost is trying to charge developers for access to their audience — which is not what the EU intended.
They are charging a development fee. Then a per user deployment fee for each copy of the software distributed. This is a normal structure for many commercial software.
You can still develop an iOS app and deploy it on a third party iOS store. It just can use any software that apple charges for.
The EU would need further legislation to stop apple from doing this. It would also have to be targeted very particularly at apple, else software licensing wouldn't work.
To tell apple they couldn't do this would require invalidating copyright licensing for all software generated by an OS provider that can be used on a application.
In all the examples you've suggested the software was given freely from the OS providers to apple. They didn't ask for any money. Largely because they wanted people to make software for their systems. Video game consoles do exactly what apple is doing. Further they even have means to restrict the content that you can publish at all.